The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted the directors of a family-run engineering firm in Devon, after an employee was killed in an explosion.

R J Bateman (Engineering) Limited of High Street, Midsomer Norton in Bath is run by Richard Bateman and his son John, both of whom are directors. The company has a factory at Bycott in Chumleigh, Devon, which makes crop spraying equipment.

In April 2006, employee Anthony Reed, 40 – who was at the time of the accident being trained in welding at the factory – was welding some practice pieces on a ‘makeshift’ work bench, which consisted of a metal plate supported by a modified 200-litre coolant drum.

The drum was being used to collect waste materials, which included highly flammable liquids. When the liquids were ignited, Mr Reed sustained serious head injuries, from which he died in hospital eight days after the accident. He had only been working for the company for a month.

On Friday (23/10/09) at Exeter Crown Court, Richard Bateman and John Bateman pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The company was also found guilty of breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995, following an earlier incident in November 2004 which the company failed to report to the HSE. On that occasion, self-employed worker Trevor McWilliams suffered chest injuries after falling from a roof extension at the factory site in Chumleigh.

R J Bateman Limited was fined a total of £65,000 and was ordered to pay costs of £67,000. As company directors, Richard Bateman was John Bateman were both fined £10,000.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Jo Fitzgerald said:

‘This company operates in the sort of industrial environment where there can be significant risks to staff, which must be managed well to keep people safe. The risk of working with flammable substances, in particular, cannot be underestimated.’

She also criticised the circumstances under which Mr Reed was being trained for his new job in the company:

‘Mr Reed should never have been in the position he found himself in, practising his skills using a makeshift set-up with no knowledge of the significant danger in which he had placed himself.

‘This terrible tragedy was the result of years of inadequate health and safety management and could have been avoided if proper systems had been adopted by the company,’ Ms Fitzgerald added.

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